Namaste and kia ora Wānaka,

As always with spring, we see variable weather conditions. One day the sun is out, and we say yahoo to summer, only to wake and find snow has fallen on the Crown Range and heavy rain has fallen in town.

Due to this drivers need to be reminded to drive to the conditions. Far too often people neglect to slow down when the roads are wet. This is not visitors, but locals who are overconfident and claim to know the road like the back of their hands.

Over the last two weeks this has resulted in several single vehicle crashes where things could have been a lot worse.

Like the old slogan says, 'please drive to the conditions'.

Our officers have been out patrolling the roads, testing for alcohol, responding to driving complaints, checking for speed, and issuing infringement notices when required. If you accumulate too many of these infringements within two years your driver’s licence will be suspended for three months.

This has been the case for four drivers this week who will now have to seek alternative means of transport.

On Saturday (November 4) our Wānaka Search and Rescue (SAR) volunteers gave up their time to sharpen up their skills in readiness for what is expected to be a busy summer in our mountains. They conducted an exercise to look for a historic plane that disappeared in 1962 with five persons on board. The Dragonfly ZK-AFB has never been located and some experts speculate it may have gone down in the Rainbow Valley of the East Matukituki, Mount Aspiring National Park.

The search area proved to be very rugged country and the weather also proved challenging. But these are the conditions often met by the Wānaka SAR teams when called out, so it was great to train in them.

In action were three sub-alpine teams, two canyoning teams and an aerial search team. Not to mention the planning and co-ordinating teams.

Unfortunately, no sign of the lost plane was found, however the skills and equipment were tested, and the team is once again ready to deploy.

Saturday also saw the presentation of a life membership award given to Aaron Nicholson who has been an integral part of making Wānaka SAR what it is today. He has spent countless hours of his time learning, teaching, and putting processes in place to help the lost and injured in our mountains.

Until the next edition of Crimeline, keep safe.